A Life Of Pain and Torture
by Silhouette Quintessence
Summary: When you are an echidna who lives in a world of violence and discrimination it's not easy. Knuckles has been feeling strange lately about a 'topsecret' test facility where echidnas are being held. Will he let innocent blood be spilled? R
1. Before It All

**BEFORE IT ALL**

A/N: Hello peeps! I was just thinking the other night, and this kind of subject came to mind. That and I want to see if I can write gory and gruesome things well. This is mostly rated R for blood and violence in later chapters. I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other of his little pals. SEGA owns them. I do own all the others though. So does Celestial. We share ownership of them. This takes place before all species of furries were known. Obviously it is in the past. (I will still be writing in present tense though.) There are mainly hedgehogs and echidnas. As for foxes and bats, there are only few and Tails is the only fox, if he is in it. I'll need to find a part for him and if I do then he'll be in this. So, now that I've educated you. Read please and don't forget to leave a review. It isn't brain surgery you know. It is much appreciated.

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Many hedgehogs believe that echidnas are unequal to themselves. While many others believe that all are equal. The currently existing echidnas are either free (a small amount), enslaved,runningaway from their unwanted lives,or live in a strange top-secret facility that very few know about. The only thing that _is_ known is that if an echidna goes in they never come back out. If one does manage to leave they aren't the same. Usually they'd go mad. Die from insanity almost days after their release or escape, whichever the two.

Knuckles the echidna is a very lucky one indeed. He was born free. He still has to endure many things though. Many would judge him before they even know or talk to him. He has few friends. He is rather fortunate overall though. Knuckles never understood why he along with all the other echidnas had to be so different.

One of Knuckles' friends is indeed Sonic the Hedgehog. Not many hedgehogs know this though. Sonic might not be as popular if they did.

Knuckles sits reading a book. It is very late so he decides to go to bed.

/The next morning 5:00AM/

"Knuckles!" shouts Sonic bursting through the door. He scans the room and Knuckles isn't there. He then goes upstairs to the echidna's bedroom. "Knuckles?" asks Sonic in a worried tone.

"What?" asks Knuckles sleepily. "Who's there?!"

"Knuckles it's…me…" says Sonic slowly getting weaker. "I need…your…help…"

"Sonic? Is that you?" asks Knuckles now getting up. He squints in the darkness.

"Knuckles….?" Sonic then becomes silent.

Knuckles turns on the light with a yawn. "What are you talking about?" He sees Sonic and stops. "Haha…funny," says Knuckles. "Joke's over. It's 5:00 in the morning. Go away!" Knuckles kicks the hedgehog who is now motionless against the wall. His eyes are closed. "Sonic! I'm not kidding!" Knuckles pauses. "Sonic…? What's the matter with you?"

"…"

"You alive? WAKE UP YOU DAMN JERK!" shouts Knuckles. He gives the hedgehog a shove with his foot. Still Sonic does not respond. Knuckles takes Sonic's wrist and tries to find a pulse. He does. "He's just out cold."

Knuckles drags his friend down the stairs and heaves him onto the couch. He scratches his head in bewilderment. "Why did he just…pass out like that?" he asks to himself. Then Knuckles notices that on Sonic's arm there is a small bloodspot. "Okay? Creepy…" The echidna then walks back upstairs to get a little more sleep.

/Unknown location/

A tan echidna walks out of a room shakily. There are small cuts all over his body. The room he just left and the one he just entered is pure white, a blinding white. He sits down at a white table and chair. A few small streaks of blood stain the white a deep crimson.

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A/N- I know! It's extremely short. The chapters will get longer though. I promise! Now, don't forget to leave a review. If you wish to suggest cruel torture mechanisms then please, feel free to do so. I may use them. 


	2. Strange Signs

**STRANGE SIGNS**

A/N: Hello. Next chapter! I do not own any SEGA characters. I do own all the others though. Along with Celestial if you had not already guessed. Oh, and italics is "dream mode". Yeah… Now you can start reading what you've waited for.

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A female echidna waits nervously by a door. There are many other echidnas behind her. All of them look equally, if not more upset. One of them looks particularly disturbed. He is wearing a ragged T-shirt and jeans. On his upper arms are slightly deep scars that go all the way around his arm like a ring. They seem to be healed very well, but he would have had to receive a great amount of damage for them to look like that.

He steps out of his place in line and quickly walks over to the female in the very front of the line. He whispers something to her and hugs her tightly. She looks barely relieved but manages a smile.

_The male echidna goes back to his spot briskly. As he does this the door slides open and the female echidna is admitted into the room. The door quickly slams shut. Minutes later sounds are heard, loud sounds of pain._

Knuckles' eyes snap open. He looks at the clock and the time was about nine. He sleepily gets out of bed and takes a shower to help wake himself up. Afterwards, he walks downstairs to find that Sonic had not moved at all and was still out cold. Either that or he was now sleeping.

"Sonic…" whispers Knuckles while nudging the blue hedgehog.

Sonic does not respond. Knuckles gets frustrated quickly and pokes Sonic hard. This causes Sonic to stir slightly.

"Sonic," says Knuckles. "Wake up…wake up!"

Sonic's eyes flutter open. His vision is slightly blurred. He first sees Knuckles as a bright red blob. He blinks a few times to no avail. Sonic becomes alarmed and tries to move away. He is stopped by a sharp and sore pain in his arm.

"Ow…" says the hedgehog wincing in pain. Sonic's vision returns to him and he shakes off the pain.

"Sonic!" exclaims Knuckles. "What's the matter with you?"

"I…it was…horrible," says Sonic weakly.

"What was horrible?" asks Knuckles anxiously.

Sonic suddenly becomes rigid and just as quickly as he had gone stiff his body grows limp. Knuckles looks thoroughly pissed and mutters to himself angrily as Sonic is yet again out cold.

"Oh…my…god," says Knuckles angrily. "I can't get shit out of this stupid idiot!"

Knuckles sits down. He turns on the TV and the news is on. He pays little attention, as he is very angry right now.

The reporter is saying something about an attack near a large, thick area of woods.

"There was no proof of who or what could've done this," says the reporter. "This has been the 2nd attack this month on South Island. Also resulting fatal for the victim, and now, here's Wes with the weather. Wes."

A different screen appears and a tan colored hedgehog is standing there. He begins to speak and Knuckles yawns widely out of boredom.

"Also," says Wes. "There have been some very abnormal weather patterns just south of here. We may be getting some of it soon. So I advise all to take cover because we will have a major storm and it is moving fast…"

Knuckles turns off the TV. As he does so thunder rumbles loudly outside. He turns on the light. It was getting dark and cloudy even though it was early in the day. The bright red echidna walks over to the window, opens the curtains, and looks outside. He discovers that the sky is a violent shade of reddish orange. Dark gray clouds are moving closer by the minute. Knuckles can see small rivets of orange, yellow and purple lighting coming from them.

"What the hell kind of weather is that?" he questions with wide eyes.

He walks back to the chair and sits down. "There is absolutely _nothing_ to do right now," he says with a sigh and looks at the unconscious Sonic.

He is suddenly very tired and begins to nod off. He had just slept but he feels exhausted again. He continues to feel more fatigued by the second and slowly slips into a deep slumber. Again he begins to dream. This time he can see himself. (As though you were playing a video game.)

Knuckles finds himself in a rather vacant area. Filled with nothing but dirt and rocks. He looks around but sees the exact same thing all around himself. He then hears a voice.

"Someone will come for us," says a male voice gently.

"We've been waiting for years!" shouts another. "This 'hero' is never coming!"

"Then why would we all know this?!"

Knuckles looks very confused. There is no one there to make the voices yet they come as if someone were right next to him. Suddenly, everything goes black and he hears a lone voice. It is full of despair and seems to be on the verge of tears.

"Please!" says the voice. "Somebody help us! Hear my plea! Come to South Island. We are all here…waiting! Please!"

Knuckles jerks awake feeling rather sick. He is face down on the floor, and the radio on the table is on. Knuckles does not remember putting it on though. He also assumes that the voices came from the radio and were put into his head from it. Knuckles reaches forward to shut it off but as he does the power goes out, and the room is now pitch black. He gets up shakily and sits against the wall. He puts his gloved yet clammy hands to his face. "What's happening to me?" he asks quietly.

Outside a storm is raging. The house is creaking from the fierce winds. The echidna gets up and finds his way to the kitchen. There he finds a flashlight and turns it on. He walks over to the couch to see if Sonic was still out of it. He shines the flashlight in that direction but the spot is empty. Knuckles feels a small twinge of fear.

"S-Sonic?" he calls lightly. "Yo…you awake?…you up?" Knuckles gets no answer. He then hears a slight noise and whips around. Strangely enough his flashlight flickers off. He hears slight breathing.

"Knuckles…" says a voice that makes Knuckles' hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Out of fear Knuckles stays still and does not answer. Red eyes appear and glow brightly in the darkness. They seem to stare right through him.

"Wh-what are you?" questions the frightened echidna.

The red eyes move closer to him and he backs away and into the wall.

"What the hell do you want?!" he asks. Still he gets nothing. As Knuckles feels a cold hand wrap around his throat he instantly puts both of his hands on the arm connected to the hand. He pulls at the arm with all of his strength but to no avail. Usually Knuckles would be able to do anything like this, but he seems to be extremely weak compared to whatever was doing this. The icy cold hand tightens, and the echidna finds it harder to breathe. Still it continues to crush his windpipe further and further. Knuckles begins to feel himself slip away and tries to fight it.

Suddenly, something flies through the window and strikes the one who is trying to choke Knuckles. The room lights up, as it was a fireball. Knuckles gasps for air and looks at the charred figure in shock. It was Sonic. Sonic began to get up. He still has bright red eyes and there is a demented smile spread across his face.

"What the frick happened to you!?" asks Knuckles. He is also very puzzled that a fireball flew through the window. The place where Sonic was struck is smoking. Wind blows and it catches fire.

Knuckles runs outside only to be burned by water. The rain falling is steaming. There is thick fog all around. Many buildings around are on fire. Knuckles runs forward to find shelter and to get away from Sonic. As he is running a fireball pelts the ground in front of him. The sky is now a deep, flaming red. Knuckles hops over the burning hole and continues to run. He finds shelter in a dim alleyway. He stops and calms down a bit. Knuckles turns around but is met with the sight of Sonic. He quickly gets into a fighting stance and punches the hedgehog in the jaw.

Sonic stumbles back a bit and wipes the blood from his mouth. He fixes his completely red eyes into a glare, smirks, and runs at Knuckles. Just as he is about to hit the echidna he leaps over him and speeds on while looking back at him. Knuckles stares at Sonic with a look of concentration and begins to chase him.

After a while Knuckles looses the speedy hedgehog and slows to a stop. He is in a clearing and it is no longer raining. The sky looks slightly pink but it is clear. Knuckles looks around and listens for noise. He hears nothing and begins to walk forward. He walks for what seems like hours and reaches a rather tropical beach. There are many green plants and trees. The water is a transparent blue and the sand is very fine and almost white.

"I might as well crash here," says Knuckles as he sits down. His feet are in the water and the tide comes up occasionally and soaks up to his knees. He rests his head back against the soft sand and looks into the sky that is slowly turning velvety black. He sighs. "What's Sonic's deal? Why did he try to attack me?"

He continues to think and soon drifts off into a peaceful sleep.

While Knuckles is sleeping something moves quickly just below the surface of the water towards him. It travels a very, very long distance for a long time. Knuckles still sleeps peacefully. Suddenly it shoots out of the water revealing itself to be a bright pink beam. It zaps the sand right next to his head and wakes him up immediately. The sand next to his head is now a small slab of thick glass. He looks at where the beam is now and gets to his feet to dodge it.

He starts running along the beach away from the beam. It keeps getting closer and closer to him. Knuckles pushes himself to run even faster.

"Daammmit!" he says.

Still the beam moves closer and closer, finally hits Knuckles. It sends a searing pain throughout his whole body until he passes out on the beach. The beam suddenly dissapears as he falls. As Knuckles lies on the beach injured, someone watches him from the thick greenery.

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A/N: I know. Weird place to end it but I think it's okay. Please review and tell me what you think. I hoped you liked it. I'll update soon, I promise! 


	3. Chapter Three

A/N- Next chapter ahoy! There was a problem with last chapter. The parts that were supposed to be in italics were NOT! Hopefully you figured out what was and was not a dream. Ok, I do not own any SEGA characters, and I never will. I do own all others though with the shared ownership of Celly. I hope you enjoy chapter three!

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Knuckles lies unconscious and completely silent for quite some time before he wakes up. The echidna falls into a lighter slumber, but he continues to lie there quite motionless, showing no optical signs of life. There is a slight burning sensation that he feels in his back and the back of his neck, yet it is not enough to awaken him. The crimson echidna is still in a far off realm, distant from the grating truth that dwells around him.

A short while later the male begins to stir. He cracks his eyes open and only a sliver of pale yellow light pours into his view. He opens them a bit more, however, his vision is slightly blurred from when he was unconscious.

Knuckles notices a dark figure looming silently above him, blocking out some of the light of the luminous sky. The male's eyes dilate and he blinks a few times to help his vision return to normal. He quickly attempts to scramble to his feet and defend himself if necessary. He feels a white-hot pain in his back but swings his fist at the unknown figure, wanting to weaken or injure it in any way possible, just so it does not hurt him in his already weakened state. The echidna's fist makes contact with the opponent and knocks it backwards.

The red male glares at the one he had just previously attacked. He clenches his teeth at the severe pain in his back and neck. It feels to him as though there is a hot knife in his spine and someone is ruthlessly twisting and wrenching it around.

"What the _fuck_ was that for?" asks the female he had just punched in the jaw. Each syllable holds a cold and icy edge. She wipes away some scarlet fluid that is leaking from her mouth.

"You…leave me alone," says Knuckles firmly. "If you come near me again I swear I'll wail on ya, hedgehog!"

"I'm not trying to do anything to you," says the icy blue furred hedgehog calmly. She wipes a bit more blood off of her jaw, leaving a deep red striate on her solid white glove. "I was on the island and I saw you lying there. Considering the condition that you are in I think that anyone would be at least a bit curious."

"Why would you care about an echidna?" Knuckles gives the female a strong glare as a sudden gust of wind sweeps through the beach-like area. The wind picks up the sand, blowing small amounts of it into both of their fur.

The female shakes her head to get the gritty sand out of her face and brushes off her raven black streaked quills that have thinner white strips bordering the black. Her ears flick as well.

She blinks her deep sapphire eyes a few times. "I'm not like that," she says plainly.

Knuckles brings his guard down slowly and stares at the female with his amethyst eyes. The breeze plays with his long crimson dreadlocks.

"You're hurt," states the blue hedgehog. "Do you need any help?"

"I'm just…" The red male trails off as he looks behind himself. He is met with a grotesque sight.

The middle of his back up to his neck is severely burned, and the echidna bleeds freely, as he had opened the wound from his previous attack on the female. Where he had been lying for who knows how long is a mess of muddy sand mixed with bloody fluid that had previously bled out from his back. His large wound is filthy, full of sand and dirt. The still existing fur around the injury is matted and dirty.

The cause of this was the bright pink laser that had been pursuing him, caught up to, and struck him. It had not killed him, however, as it had not hit him correctly. If it had hit him correctly he would have a large gaping slice right through the targeted area, thus killing him almost instantly. Fortunately for Knuckles he was not directly hit.

The burn is extremely tender to the touch and screams with biting pain when Knuckles moves or stretches. His knowledge of the injury's severity makes everything much worse for him.

The echidna's stomach turns into a tight knot and his eyes dilate. He looks back at the hedgehog who is still awaiting the answer of whether he needs any assistance or not.

"You can leave," says Knuckles sternly, not wanting any help from this stranger.

She raises an eyebrow in suspicion. "You can hardly walk without causing intense pain…"

"I'm fine!" shouts Knuckles stubbornly. "Just leave…"

The female, fed up with trying to help someone who obviously does not want any, begins to walk away. As she leaves Knuckles walks stiffly over to a tree and leans against it for support.

The pain grows more powerful every time the male moves. He begins to feel sick and his body temperature rises out of panic, as fear is beginning to grow inside of him like a tiny spark grows into a flame. The echidna's stomach starts to feel strange and he grows weak and shaky. A cold sweat forms on his body as his head begins to spin and the world around him becomes nothing but a swirled and giant botch of colors and blurred shapes. The crimson male closes his eyes as he slowly slips out of consciousness, the sensation too overwhelming for him to handle. The bright cherry red echidna's limp form slides slowly down to the ground, soft with sand and grass.

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A/N- Finished! I know it was short, but I wanted to end it here. I hope that you are happy that I finally updated. I'll be working on the next chapter soon. Please review! 


	4. The Saved And The Suffering

**THE SAVED AND THE SUFFERING**

A/N- Chapter four! I'm getting back into the flow of writing…yay!

Okay, this may shock and/or horrify you but…I don't own Sonic or his company! SEGA owns Sonic and all those other people. Celestial and I own all the others though.

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As the female hedgehog that Knuckles had encountered earlier walks casually away, she turns back and notices that the echidna who had refused her of helping him was having a large amount of difficulty. She stops and watches his limp form slump to the lush grassy ground.

After debating with herself for a short time of whether or not to help him she soon decides that the better choice is indeed to assist the injured and unconscious male. "I guess I shouldn't just leave him here to rot." The hedgehog walks over to him. She grabs hold of both of his arms and drags him a few feet. The icy blue female then attempts to hoist him over her shoulder and try to carry him. She makes sure not to poke him with her quills as they are twisted upwards. (Like Shadow's) This works rather easily for a short while, but he starts to get extremely heavy and her legs beg her to stop and rest as his body weight begins to become too much for her to hold up.

Following many long and antagonizing minutes, tired steps, and difficulties of carrying the echidna, the hedgehog arrives at a small camp area surrounded by thick forest and a long way from the beach where she had recently been.

The blue female lets the crimson red echidna's body fall unassisted to the ground. It makes an audible thump as Knuckles hits the firm dirt ground, landing on his side. Blood still leaks out of his body at a steady rate and must be stopped soon if he is to live.

There is a large; forest green colored tent a few feet away. Near it there are a few weapons, black in color, glinting in the scattered sunlight. There are also a few covered knives on the ground. The hedgehog leaves the red echidna alone on the ground for a few minutes and enters the tent.

While she is inside the shelter, a pair of eyes in the distance watch the motionless male lying on the forest floor. The one that the eyes belong to slowly moves closer to the camp area.

Suddenly, the female hedgehog comes back out of the tent and the eyes disappear into a thicket of trees. She walks over to Knuckles and drags him into the tent.

Inside the tent there are two hammocks. The hedgehog puts the male echidna onto one of them and starts to treat his grave wounds.

Much later, Knuckles' purple eyes flutter open. He is lying on the same bunk that the hedgehog had formerly set him on. He is covered in a thin, white sheet and there are bandages wrapped around his head, back, and part of his neck. He tries to sit up but feels a burning ache. The male decides to stay lying down as to keep the pain at a minimum. He simply lies there, looking at the tent around him, wondering where he is or who had brought him here.

In a short while his rescuer comes into the tent. She is dressed in black jeans, a black shirt, and there are a few bracelets and devices on her wrists. "You're up," she says with a hint of happiness in her tone. She looks at him with her sharp sapphire eyes, outlined in raven black fur. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay I guess," says Knuckles quietly. "Um…where am I? What's going on and how did I get here?"

"Well, first of all, I think you'd want to know the name of your savior," remarks the hedgehog with a smirk. "My name is Silhouette and my friends call me Sil for short."

"And my name is Knuckles," says the crimson echidna. "Will you be so kind as to answer my other questions now?" Knuckles becomes annoyed with his lack of information.

"Our location is South Island," states Silhouette. "And-"

"South Island?" Knuckles cuts off the blue hedgehog, giving her a quizzical look.

"Yeah…South Island," she repeats.

"How did I get here though?" questions the echidna. "I never came to South Island…"

"Well…I brought you here," says the female. "To the tent…but the island…?"

"So you don't have any idea how I arrived on the island?"

"Not at all."

"Oh…okay then," says Knuckles, puzzled.

"Sorry that I couldn't help anymore," says Silhouette. She begins to leave. "I'll let you rest some more. You need it."

"Wait…" says Knuckles.

"What?" Silhouette stops and looks back at him.

"Um…thanks," mumbles the ruby colored male.

"You're welcome," says Sil just as quietly and smiles just barely as she exits the tent.

The place where research and other unknown things are done on echidnas is just a few miles away from Knuckles and Silhouette's location. Knuckles does not know very much about the facility or what exactly goes on there, all he knows is that it's dangerous to be there if you are an echidna. Silhouette on the other hand knows more than most other furries.

She sits outside next to the small amount of weapons. The female holds a little piece of paper and smiles just barely. Her eyes hold sadness though. A deep sadness that has never been consoled, that has never been healed or close to it. Her mind still heavily scarred from that night not so long ago…

Sil lets her mind focus in and out of reality. She lets her memory rest but she never forgets what she lost. Her eyes fill with tears but refuses to let them spill out, refuses to cry over something that is gone forever, something that she can never get back. Something she will have to live without…

"You stupid retard…" she says with a melancholy happiness. Silhouette puts what appears to be a small photo of someone back into her pocket.

Oo00oxXx

/Research Facility/

A maroon female echidna with long dreadlocks walks silently down a metal covered hallway with numerous doors leading in and out of certain rooms. She looks rather laid back with nothing on her mind. Her clothes are very ragged and blood stained, torn in some spots. She appears to be quite fine until a bell sounds throughout the whole area. Her eyes dilate and she suddenly quickens her pace, soon breaking into a quick run. Her worn sneakers making audible taps on the glinting steel floor.

Her tan muzzle begins to grow pale and her yellow eyes quickly change to the emotion of fear. Sweat begins to bead on her forehead as she sprints down the never-ending hall. The soft light at the end is her goal. She must get there before it's too late…before she is too late.

As her destination grows near she slows down a bit and reaches it. The echidna walks into a large, white room. Seated at multiple rows of tables are several other echidnas. As she disturbs the peacefulness and order of the room the attention is turned to her. She walks quickly over to her seat, her heart pounding furiously against her ribs, using them as a drum.

"So nice of you to join us Cinder," says a male's voice through an intercom system. The owner of the voice is not seen anywhere, however. "I'll be seeing you after this announcement is through."

Cinder glowers down at her hands as the voice continues to speak to everyone. She pays no attention to the information being given. She knows that she will not need it, as she'll be doing things other than drills. How could she have been so stupid? She knew exactly when to be there and yet she was late…again… The maroon female begins to quiver slightly. As she does this, an arm is put around her. She looks up at the male who had done this.

It was her brother. She was in such a hurry to arrive that she had not noticed him. He-like Cinder- has long dreadlocks, only they are sooty black along with the rest of his body. His ruby eyes hold compassion for Cinder as he tries to comfort her. The voice on the intercom stops abruptly and all the others

get up and file out of the room.

Cinder's brother sighs and gets up. "Is there a reason for why you were late?"

Cinder gets up as well and they begin to walk out. "Not a good one," confesses the female. "I was on my way and the signal suddenly sounded…I ran as fast as I could but I still couldn't make it in time." Cinder's eyes fill with tears. "Why does this keep happening, Pyre? I'm sick of this…all that ever happens to me is bad."

"Cinder…" says Pyre. "Let's try to look a bit more on the bright side."

"There is nothing good about any of this," says the female stubbornly as she nears the room feared by all echidnas that dwell in the building.

"We do get to learn all the best fighting moves," he says with a small smile. "I know you like that."

This does not make Cinder smile though, as she has just reached the door leading to the source of all her physical pain. Her brother watches, feeling helpless, as she walks in with a look of defeat written all over her face. Pyre walks away slowly back to his room, knowing that he will need to help his younger sister when she returns. If she does.

Cinder enters the room silently and is greeted by a baneful voice.

"You've been so late for everything for a while now," says the same voice from the intercom. "What have you been up to?" The male sits in the shadows of the dark room. The walls are painted deep crimson and the only light that is being shed is from a lone purple candle sitting on a small black marble table near Cinder. The golden-orange light being emitted from the candle dances across the highly polished marble. "Well, you know the drill. Go in through that door. Maybe this time you'll remember the lesson that you are taught."

Next to the maroon echidna is a metal door leading into a white and completely empty room. She glares at the shadowed male before walking into the room, trying desperately to hide her terror and panic that seem to be creeping up on her. She stands very still once entering the room and then standing in the middle of it. Cinder takes slow deep breaths, trying to keep herself under control.

"Put your arms out," says a monotone voice. She does so, knowing that she cannot resist. It would simply make it much worse for her if she ever did or anyone else for that matter. Cinder lets out a nervous and shaky sigh.

A metal machine materializes around her. There is a platform where she stands and coming out of the platform are four snake-like metal cords with large silver rings attached to the very end. The rings slide onto her upper arms and upper legs, all four having one appendage to itself.

Cinder braces herself for pain. This method of punishment had never been used on her before and she knows that it will probably be worse than what she has ever endured before. Each time she is called to this room her injuries and memories only grow more painful as well as in number.

The rings are smooth and cold against her maroon fur and nothing is happening yet. She is wondering if the device will possibly try to stretch her body to the point of breaking or try to pull her joints out of their sockets. In a moment she is wishing that it had been going to do that.

Razor sharp spikes suddenly shoot out of the insides of the rings and bite into her flesh. Her warm blood seeps through her already battered T-shirt and drips onto the snow-white colored tiled floor, coloring it scarlet. Her eyes water and tears threaten to fall from her eyes, and her teeth are clenched so tightly that a crowbar could not get them apart.

The spurs begin to spin ever so slowly, causing Cinder immense pain. She cries out from the intense suffering. The fur and flesh is torn away from the ringed areas of her legs and arms. Blood spills and drips out of the new wounds and covers the metal torturing mechanism and her clothes become soaked in the scarlet fluid. The crimson liquid pools around the platform. The thick needles start to spin faster, removing more of her flesh, causing more pain, and digging deeper into her limbs. Her pain filled screams rent through the whole area, reminding the other echidnas that this is their punishment for being late or disobeying the rules.

Salvation never reaches the female while she is still aware of the world around her. Blood loss and agony cause her to pass out. Her body hangs limp, being held up by the vile instruments of torture. The rings split almost in half and Cinder falls to the ground in a heap.

The hoops are full of the echidna's lifeblood and fur, the spikes still hold small chunks of flesh that were just ripped off of her body. The machine used to torment fades away just the way it had appeared.

The fall had awoken the female and brought her back into her world of hurt and distress. Cinder is face down in a large pool of her own blood. She tries to get up and find a place where she can have shelter and will feel safe, an asylum. She must get to her brother and her friends, as they will help her. Her legs and arms scream in agony and her head spins. Her chest falls and rises abnormally and her breathing becomes ragged and uneven. She crawls sluggishly to the door and uses the doorway to help herself sustain a standing position.

She leaves a drunken stripe of deep red fluid across the floor and walls that she used for support. In time she finds her room where her brother is waiting for her. The maroon echidna falls into the room with a loud thump and Pyre is by her side in an instant. His eyes widen at the bloody sight. He had hoped this would never be done to her as it had to him. He still had the deep scars to prove it too, and his fur was thin there as well.

"Pyre," whispers Cinder while wincing in pain.

"Cinder…what is it?"

"Thank…you…" Cinder falls unconscious from her weakness and over exertion. The male echidna carries her to a bed and lies her down, knowing he could very well lose his sibling, the only one that he cared for, that he had ever cared for.

A light green echidna runs rapidly into the small dark room with white bandages. "Did you need me here sooner?" asks the female in a panicky tone. Her orange eyes meet Cinder in her horrifying state.

"She's in really bad shape," states Pyre. "We need to stem the flow of the blood and we need to do it fast…"

* * *

A/N- Haha! I'm so mean ending it here! Just be thankful I didn't end it somewhere worse! Did it suck though? Please tell me in a review! I'll have the next chapter up soon as long as I get some reviews! 


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